Amplify Your Success

Visionary entrepreneurs, thought leaders and change makers can discover how to increase income and impact as Melanie Benson and her guests cover how to amplify your results and achieve more of your bold goals.

Discover how to identify your unconscious financial ceiling and raise it so you can stop sabotaging your success and start experiencing more prosperity in life and in your small business.

Key Takeaways

2:00 Your financial ceiling is a lot like a limiter in a car, it’s the level of success you believe you can’t get past.

3:04 Melanie reflects on a common sign among her clients of a financial limiter kicking in is that the person sabotage sales opportunities by not following up on leads. She then covers other signs you have a saboteurs kicking in.

4:08 Gay Hendricks calls this an Upper Limit Setting in the book, The Big Leap, which is like your comfort zone around money and success.

5:45 Melanie reveals how her own upper limit problem kicked in and how what she learned about resistance helped her break through it.

10:02 Often times the unconscious financial limiter kicks in after a big win; and is preceded by breakdowns, such as a big fight with a business partner or losing clients.

Collaboration is a powerful way to accelerate results – as well as access innovative trends and solutions in the marketplace. In this episode, Melanie explores how collaboration can be used in a small business as well as some of the common pitfalls of this type of team effort that you can avoid by being aware.

Key Takeaways

1:04 Melanie shares what collaboration is and how it works inside a small business, non-profit or association to accelerate results.

3:40 Melanie explores how collaboration can elevate community and speed up results for non-profits and associations.

4:50 Melanie believes that Collaboration is better than competition. For instance, “two heads are better than one – and seven minds can propel you even faster." More effective problem solving happens as well as higher level innovation through collaborative mind sharing.

6:00 A collaborative team often uses the power of friction, but if you don’t understand how this messy energy pays off, you may implode the team efforts.

9:02 One of the challenges that can surface with a collaborative workforce is the “stray cat syndrome” when a leader is frustrated trying to herd independent professionals.

16:52 If you are a non-profit, association or are community-centric in your business, watch what Women Speakers Association is doing to grow quickly via a collaborative team.

20:53 A pivot point for an entrepreneur can be entering into a collaborative partnership as it can open doors to new markets as well as overcome weak areas. An example of a powerful collaborative partnership, Leaders to Luminaries, is explored.

23:00 In order to harness the power of collaboration, Melanie covers a few do’s and don’ts so you can avoid common pitfalls. Be sure to catch the tip on how to re-ignite the passion for a collaborative team member who is not following through on their role assignments.

Melanie breaks through an insidious habit that causes many people who make big money struggle to make ends meet: spending it all at once! In this episode, you will hear a coaching session between Melanie and Joanna Vargas, with techniques to save but still allot money to spend, as well as changing your mindset about what it means to save, and take ownership of the financial aspect.

Key Takeaways:

[1:15] Melanie gives some background on Joanna’s business, situation, and celebration, before she dives into the coaching session.

[4:20] Joanna is struggling with ravenous spending when she gets a surge of income. How do we allow ourselves to spend, without being self-conscious about it?

[5:56] Melanie talks through some reasons for overspending: is it trying to create an experience to fit in or be seen in a certain way, or a starvation, where we feel relief when we get some money, and feel like we need to “catch up?” In some instances, it may be a matter of buying your way into importance, or spending your money to get back to a sense of normalcy.

[7:50] Commit to creating your own personal financial reserves. This can create a mindset of comfort, because you always have money.

[8:33] “The Bucket Philosophy”: When people feel starved for money, and put themselves in a state of restriction, when they do get money, it leaves so quickly, because of their being frugal for so long. The Bucket Philosophy is a saving strategy that allots the money for different funds.

Melanie talks about four essential shifts you can make to achieve more impact and more success effortlessly. A couple of quick shifts in who you’re being can actually power up your doing.

Key Takeaways:

[1:16] What do you do when you’re trying to break that next level of success, and it’s not working, despite feeling like you’re doing all the right things?

[1:55] “Be. Do. Have.” Concept: Doing isn’t the focus, it’s being.

[3:20] When Melanie began to break down her own barriers, she started to study what was working for other people, emulating specific aspects of successful people. The shifts occurred in four pillars: mindset, action and behavior, environment, and wisdom.

[4:39] Bold, courageous mindset: You have to be willing to do you, authentically. Don’t sacrifice the best parts of you to be successful.

[6:13] Are the offerings and the approach you’re taking aligned with your values, what’s important to you, and using your strengths?

[6:58] Balance the long-term vision with short-term action. It can be easy to lose focus on where you ultimately want to be, but it is important to evaluate where you are putting your time and attention. This can be very important for your money mindset, especially how you sell and enroll.

[11:25] Really understand the line between something that is costing you money but not bringing in return, and an investment that helps you expand your success.

[12:12] Successful people don’t let the “how” get in the way of action. Commit to the outcome, and then you figure out how you’re going to achieve it.

[13:30] Productivity and action: Are you taking actions that are producing results? Develop a timely (weekly, monthly) consistency to your highest-impact activities.

[15:05] Optimization: recognizing what you have, before you create more.

[16:52] Time boundaries are something that really sets success apart. Create time boundaries so you have clarity about what you should be saying yes to, and what you shouldn’t be saying yes to.

[18:07] Learn how to leverage other people’s talents to free up your time for what will propel you forward.

[21:11] Environment: Melanie defines environment as being made up of the people and the situations and communities that you’re spending time in. Evaluate where you get inspired. Your environment has a huge unconscious influence over your motivation and what you believe is possible.

[22:42] Melanie is a huge proponent of coaches and masterminds. If you’re not feeling inspired in your environment, you may look to surround yourself with some other people who will push you in a healthy way.

[24:36] There are some people who are lifestyle-based, and some people who are work- and achievement-based. Find the person that inspires you to be the best version of you.

[26:16] Wisdom: This pillar is vital. Melanie suggests a three-fold approach: 1) a commitment to evolving and growing, 2) understand the power of leadership, and 3) be clear about what should get your yes.

[29:13] As you move into the new year, really evaluate if you’re being the level of entrepreneur, creative, or thought leader that can propel, rather than wasting time on things that do not produce results.

Jim Palmer, a very successful marketing and business-building expert, joins Melanie to talk about how to avoid the biggest profit mistakes in business. Jim shares some personal experiences, and advice on how to invest in your customers, to grow your business and increase your profit.

Key Takeaways:

[2:33] Brief introduction to Jim, and a bit of how his dream and business has culminated in his next step ― living on a boat!

[4:18] How important was the decision point that made your dream a reality? Jim talks about the technicalities of how they transitioned from their current lives, to their new adventure.

[6:57] One of the biggest mistakes an entrepreneur or small business owner can make is focusing on new sales, at the expense of keeping their current clients engaged. There is great opportunity for profit, when you find a balance between getting new clients, and keeping your current clients happy.

[9:07] Jim talks about some of the benefits of focusing on your current customers, and how to reach out and inform customers of all the different ways you can help them. It is worth exploring the value within your current client base, by creating and maintaining strong relationships with them.

[14:14] It’s ten times more expensive to acquire a new customer than it is to keep a customer. If you make your customers feel valuable, they will also likely be more inclined to share your information with others.

[15:42] How can you continue to engage customers you already have, and deepen the repeat business? Jim shares several ideas about how you can interact with your customers to see how you can expand your services, and better serve your clients.

[21:05] Small business owners focus on selling more to grow; entrepreneurs are thinking of what different ways they can create and bring in money.

[22:00] It is important to know your customer base, and where the majority of your revenue is coming from. Invest in them the same way they invest in you!

[27:24] What can a simple mindset shift do to help make a huge difference in your profit?

[28:28] What is next in Jim’s dream business, and how might his ideas, books, and events benefit the growth of your business?